Ghost Stories

If you're looking for a place to spend a romantic weekend away, the Kate Shepard House in Mobile, Alabama may be the place you're looking for. The Queen Anne home was built in 1897 by Charles Martin Shepard, general passenger agent for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and designed by well known architect George Franklin Barber. In 1910, Kate Shepard and her sister Isabel, Charles' daughters, turned the house into a private boarding and day school for Mobile's prominent children. Current owners Bill and Wendy turned it in to a bed and breakfast around 2002. A picturesque location with eleven fireplaces, stained glass windows, hardwood floor, and a library with Confederate Civil War relics and memorabilia and books from its boarding school days on display for your viewing pleasure. Their Pecan Praline French Toast dish was listed as one of the state of Alabama's "100 Dishes to Eat Before you Die". Beautiful location but is it haunted? There doesn't seem...

Charles Boyington was a printer who moved from Connecticut to Mobile, Alabama in 1833. He obtained residence in a local boarding house and soon became friends with a man named Nathaniel Frost. Frost was also a printer who suffered from tuberculosis and bouts of melancholy. The two men would walk to the nearby Church Street cemetery to sit, talk and read poems. Boyington received an invitation to a ball to be held at the Alabama Hotel. He spent most of his savings on clothes to be worn that night. After arriving, he became infatuated with a young woman named Rose. She was well liked by the gentlemen but Boyington managed to obtain a dance with her. They fell in love. He attended mass each morning at the Catholic Church she attended. A staff member who worked for her father named Lydia would pass notes between them during the service. While Rose was very much in love with Boyington, her father did not see him as husband material for his daughter. He believed Boyington did not have th...

There are several Hudson Houses located in the United States. However, little is known about the one located in Ashland, Alabama. It is believed the little old house situated in the middle of nowhere may have been built in the early 1900s, but records have not been found to prove this. There is a story of the house being a brothel at one point in its history. Wayward politicians drive out to have a little x-rated fun. There is no evidence to support this. So, for now, I leave it to be a work of fiction. Could it have been the home of a singular family line? Generations called it home until it became vacant and boarded up? Possibly. Because of the little known validated history and the numerous alleged accounts, this little house is on the paranormal radar. Some say if you walk around the house you can hear voices or screams and footsteps. Sometimes even a dog panting or growling. Face the front of the house and feel a tap on your shoulder by an unseen hand. The front door opens and...

In 1887, John Mckleroy was a partner in the Anniston Land Company, Confederate Veteran, State School Superintendent and a candidate for governor twice. He chose the highest hill on Quintard Avenue to build his home. The Victoria was built in 1888. Mckleroy died in 1894 and his widow continued to occupy the home. That is until William, her son and mayor of Anniston, moved her out while she was on vacation in Florida. He died six months later. The McKleroy family occupied the home for 25 years. In 1920, William McKleroy’s widow sold the house at public auction to William Coleman Wilson. Wilson was president of the Emory Foundry Company. The business produced Anniston's most prominent product, cast-iron pipe. The Wilsons occupied the residence until 1949. Frank and Robbie Kirby became the third owners and last full-time residents. Mr. Kirby was the founder and president of Anniston Electric Company. Mrs. Kirby was a leading musician in the community and entertained guests in what ...

Jesse James along with his brother Frank was considered a notorious outlaw in the late 1800s. His criminals ways have long since ended but could his spirit still be with us? Some believe so, specifically in the St. James Hotel. In 1837, an antebellum riverfront building erected and was called the Brantly Hotel, as it was known at the time, in Selma, Alabama. For 160 years, it was THE place for businessmen, plantation owner, soldiers, etc. During the Civil War, the Union Army, who took up residence at the hotel, kept it from burning along with the rest of Selma. After the war, Benjamin S. Tower, the first African-American Congressman, owned the property and rented out the rooms on a long-term basis. It was during this time the James Brothers made the Brantly Hotel their headquarters for a while, staying in Room 301. In 1892, the hotel ran in to financial difficulties and was forced to shut down. For over a century, the building laid dormant before going through a $6 million restoratio...

From 1882 to 1972, Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama transformed coal and ore into hard steel. From skyscrapers in New York to automobiles made in Detroit, Sloss Furnaces were relied on for providing materials to produce thousands of products. In the early 1900s, James "Slag" Wormwood was the foreman of the graveyard shift where 150 workers toiled to keep the furnace fed. Only the poorest and most desperate men would take on the harsh conditions of working the graveyard shift during the summers. Wormwood would make the workers take dangerous risks in order to impress his supervisors. Forty-seven men lost their lives during his reign not counting the numerous accidents that left men unable to work. They weren't allowed breaks or holidays. In 1906, James "Slag" Wormwood lost his footing at the top of Big Alice (the highest blast furnace) and fell into a pool of melted iron ore. He was killed instantly. It was reported that he became dizzy from the methane ...